Sen. Feinstein blames NRA on gun control

David R. Baker

Updated 3:23 pm, Thursday, April 4, 2013

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein at the Commonwealth Club in S.F. vows to fight for a climate change bill.

Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein at the Commonwealth Club in S.F. vows to...

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 19: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) talks with reporters on her way to the weekly Senate Democrats policy luncheon on March 19, 2013 in Washington, DC. The Senate is expected to pass a revised continuing resolution and send their edits back to the House in order to prevent a government shutdown next week, but any action in the Senate may be delayed until later in the week. (Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday blamed the National Rifle Association and partisan gridlock for blocking her efforts to rein in assault weapons, and she vowed to keep pressing for a full Senate vote on the issue.

"People are afraid that the NRA will come into their state with $5 million - in Arkansas, or North Dakota or Montana - and defeat them," she told reporters, following a far-ranging talk at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

Feinstein also promised a renewed fight on global warming, saying she would introduce a bill to slap a $10 fee on carbon dioxide emissions.

"I really hate to say this, but I've spent 40 years in this life, in government," she told Commonwealth Club members gathered at the Hotel Nikko. "To end it and not have secured a world that's capable of sustenance and beauty and wonder for my grandchildren is just a crushing blow.

Broad array of topics

"So I hope that within the next six years, you're going to see a climate change bill pass the Senate, the House and be signed by this president," she added.

Feinstein covered a broad array of topics in an hour-long talk with Commonwealth Club host Greg Dalton. But time and again, the conversation returned to guns, climate and public safety.

The senator argued that America would be safer without easy access to assault weapons or high-capacity ammunition clips. Feinstein's proposed bans on both items were dropped last month from the Senate's gun control legislation, although she says she has been assured that the bans will be put to a Senate vote in one way or another.

"I'm the first one to admit it's difficult," Feinstein told the crowd. "I don't quit. This is a lifetime pursuit for me. I have seen death, up close and personal, and it isn't like the way it is on television."

She also discussed carrying a handgun after leftist radicals from a group called the New World Liberation Front tried to bomb her home in 1976. The bomb misfired and her family escaped injury, but she learned to fire and carry a handgun - a .38-caliber Chief's Special.

"I decided, if they were going to come after me, I was going to take a few with me," Feinstein told the crowd.

She kept the gun stashed in her purse, along with her makeup and glasses. Eventually, she realized she wouldn't be able to retrieve it in time if she ever needed to defend herself.

"I figured, if I ever had to find this, it'd be much too late," Feinstein said.

On another public safety matter, she warned against quickly expanding the use of drone aircraft for police work.

As chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she is privy to details of the administration's drone campaign targeting terrorists abroad, a campaign she praised Wednesday.

The ability of drones to gather information - and potentially violate citizens' rights - must be considered before they become widely used in America, she said.

Major privacy question

"This is an enormous privacy question for the United States," Feinstein said. "I know the kind of ID that can be done from the skies. I know they can peer through windows. I know they can reveal people in the privacy of their own backyards."

On climate change, Feinstein acknowledged the difficulty of passing legislation in a polarized Congress.

But she held out hope that opposition would soften as the world continues to warm and once-rare weather events become common. She warned that California will need to beef up its system of reservoirs as the Sierra snowpack shrinks. She suggested raising the height of existing dams to hold more water.

"The key is, we need to store more water from the wet years and hold it for the dry years," Feinstein said. "And this, the environmentalists don't like."